chapter 33
Episode 33. Be my teacher.
Episode 33. Be my teacher.
The chancellor has been talking nonstop for several hours already with a tired face. Henri Carso.
Although beads of sweat were dripping from his forehead, his eyes were glowing with the utmost passion.
I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve been caught by him.
It’s already dark outside the window.
After briefly solving breakfast and lunch in the middle, I ended up eating until dinner.
“Your Majesty, we have one more urgent matter.”
Because I was so tired, I just nodded my head in silence.
“In order to improve His Majesty’s image and strengthen the imperial authority, the imperial family newsletter must be issued quickly.”
Morning newspaper.
Certainly, nothing could be better than playing the press to calm the anger of the imperial people.
Incidentally, it should be possible to keep the nobles in check.
It was definitely a good idea.
Moreover, since there was no such thing as a newspaper in the empire now, it would have a considerable ripple effect.
“Let the chancellor deal with it on his own.”
“That…… There is one problem.”
“What is it?”
“From the publication to the distribution, there is a serious shortage of funds.”
In the short time since I went to Florente, the Chancellor has done a lot of things.
Even the money going into them would be difficult to cover with the crumbling imperial finances alone.
“The funds will be provided soon, so get started right away. By the way. How is the relief policy going?”
“Hundreds of wagons bearing the imperial flag are already transporting grain across the empire.”
That was a very satisfactory answer.
“Good work, Prime Minister.”
“Compared to His Majesty’s hardships, it’s not worth the blood of a new foot. But, Your Majesty, there is one more urgent matter.”
I don’t know how many times that bastard’s ‘one more’ has already happened. Now I was in a state where the words to send me now were filled to the end of my chin.
Of course, this was all for the Empire and ultimately for me, so I had to suppress the growing irritation somehow.
“Tell me.”
“The Aegis Duchy is urging us to build a barrier as soon as possible.”
In the north of the dukedom of Aegis was the Great Forest of Spisus.
The monsters infested there had been steadily trying to go south for a long time, and it was the fate of the Duke of Aegis to stop them.
So from their point of view, the construction of a barrier to block the monsters would have been desperately needed from a long time ago.
However, such a large-scale construction would require an enormous amount of labor and cost incomparable to that of publishing a newspaper.
“I’ll think about it a bit more.”
With that, the chancellor stopped her. The fact that her face was flushed blue, it seemed that exhaustion was imminent.
“Then, Your Majesty, I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the reception for the envoys.”
After the Prime Minister staggered out of the office, I pondered for quite some time.
The labor force to build the Aegis barrier.
I was tickling my heart with medicine as if the solution seemed to come to my mind.
What am I missing right now?
I thought about it for a long time.
Then, at some point, a light bulb turned on in my head.
“…… Savage!”
Yes, there were still many savages in the southern part of the continent.
It was perfect for use as a labor force because not only the number of people but also the strength of each individual would be excellent.
They must have lost Domtar and split into several tribes again. There was no doubt that they were fighting each other.
If you could use the barbarians, you could build a barrier much easier.
It may even be possible to go further and put them on the battlefield as mercenaries.
Come to think of it, I almost forgot that there was something more urgent than that.
Solving the elven slavery problem and completely detoxifying the poison.
You have to deal with it first.
I called Duke Shade using the Spirit Mirror.
Although it was late at night, there was nothing I could do about it.
This was because if we didn’t solve the immediate task quickly, we might find ourselves in a difficult situation when unexpected problems popped up one after another.
The duke arrived at the office shortly after being called. Today I was in the form of a woman.
But for some reason, that expression looked sad.
Before he had time to speak, the duke reached into his uniform pocket and pulled out a large wine bottle.
The transparent inside seemed to be white wine.
Then two bulging wine glasses were also taken out.
Perhaps the pockets of his uniform were enchanted with space.
Duke Shade said with a sorrowful expression.
“You haven’t forgotten your promise, have you?”
Come to think of it, it seems that he said that he would drink wine with us if we subjugate the Earldom of Lake.
“I didn’t forget.”
After the Duke filled his glass, he even toasted with me.
“Eat it, Your Majesty.”
A duke who makes one-shots in succession with a dark face, as if there is something difficult. I was drinking very hastily.
She even wondered if a woman who had a broken heart and drinks soju one after another would be just like this.
So I could hardly seize the opportunity to speak to her.
I, too, had no choice but to naturally follow her tempo and drink wine.
So, it’s been a long time since I knew it.
The taste of the wine was so sweet that I drank it like a drink, but before I knew it, I was so drunk that my eyes were blurred.
I managed to carry on with my twisted tongue and asked to move my six wings to ban elves from slavery.
“Come on, drink it all the way. Your majesty.”
With a blushing face, the duke refilled my cup and said he would gladly do so.
After that, I don’t remember anything anymore.
It was morning when I opened my eyes again.
“Your Majesty!”
Esteel’s shouts resonated loud enough to leave the office.
The moment she heard that shrill voice, goosebumps ran through her body and her spirit jumped.
Where Esteel’s eyes stayed, there was Duke Shade.
He even fell asleep leaning on my shoulder.
Across the table, several wine bottles were scattered in a mess.
Soon after, Estill’s bloody gaze lands on my face.
It seemed like they were telling me to come out right now.
*
“How far will you follow me?”
Max continued talking as if he was annoyed at the girl following him.
“You said you would be my teacher?”
There was a large lump in the middle of the talking child’s forehead.
It was because of Max’s intense beating.
I hit dozens of times for nearly an hour to make sure the sprouts were caught, so I couldn’t help but get lumps.
There was also a long knife mark on the right cheek, which was probably made a long time ago.
Last night, Max had been admonishing this gifted child as best he could to keep him from going astray.
f*ck!
– When it comes to power, if you don’t use it to protect it, you end up eating yourself.
– Ugh…… Mister, are you hiding your power?
Every time the child was hit, the child bounced a long way and rolled on the floor.
f*ck!
– Don’t be conceited at any moment, kid. No matter how strong you are, there must be someone much stronger.
Of course, I adjusted my strength moderately, and it was all done with the child in mind to protect her body using mana.
Of course, the other children next to me didn’t know anything about it and cried and cried and screamed and screamed to save my sister.
Anyway, the girl was unscathed except for a bump on her forehead.
As if Max’s admonition was effective, he eventually asked him to become his teacher.
“You said you would. Would you like to be my master? I want to teach you So please wait here quietly.”
“I can’t do that.”
As if he had been tormented all the way since early morning, Max put on an annoyed expression.
Now, a little further away is the boundary of the dukedom, so the war horse was left in the care of the village security guard.
So I had no choice but to walk, but it was a very difficult situation as the child kept following me.
“No, why can’t you believe me? How many times do you say you’re going to a dangerous place? If you wait here for a while, will you come pick me up again?”
The girl twisted her body, lowering her gaze to her tear-stained face.
“…… If she said that, she’d just leave it and go. If you just leave me and go, I will follow you into the forest!”
“No? Are you saying I don’t intend to abandon you?”
“Even my mom never came back after saying that!”
In the eyes of the child who said that, her tears eventually began to flow.
That affectionate figure was more than enough to arouse Max’s sympathy.
“Haa…… No, stubbornness seems to be tougher than dragon sinew.”
Max thought for a while.
Although there must be a lot of monsters on his way, he seldom fights directly.
Anyway, the final destination is quinodon.
It wouldn’t be too much of a problem if I carried my child on my back there.
“Good. Come with me.”
“Really?”
“Instead, you have to be on my back in the woods. Will you be okay though?”
“Yes!”
“And from now on, call me Master. But what’s your name?”
“Elodie, Elodie, Master!”
*
It was indeed a breakfast with the whole family after a long time.
Dalgrak dalgrak-
Compared to not long ago, the tension has decreased a lot.
Estill was just looking at me without saying a word, but it seemed that she was holding back what she wanted to say.
Fortunately, the expression of the princes seemed to have softened a lot more than before.
Especially Eric, but I couldn’t find any hatred in the eyes that occasionally turned to me.
Huron seemed to be just enjoying her own steak, while Edwin was still struggling with the meat.
Then Edwin suddenly raised his head to look at me, jumped up from his seat, picked up his plate, and sprinted toward me.
Then, without a word, he handed out the plate.
Sug-
I thought he was probably talking about cutting a steak.
After cutting the meat into bite-size pieces, I gently stroked her hair.
Edwin trembled once as soon as his hand touched his head, but immediately turned away with a light smile.
Then he quietly returned to his seat.
Eric and Huron stare blankly at Edwin.
For some reason, there seemed to be a bit of envy in that gaze.
Estill is still looking at me.
At this point, I thought I should open up the conversation first.
“If you have something to say, just relax.”
A soft voice that was incomparably softer than before came out of my mouth, and the surprised princes all looked at me at once.
However, the returned Estill’s voice was infinitely cold.
“What is your relationship with that woman?”
Extremely restrained resentment and anger lurked deep within that voice.
“…… “
I was so embarrassed that I forgot what to say.
…… You say that because you have children?
If you leave it as it is, your relationship with your children, which has improved at best, may plummet again.
“Although we stayed up all night together, it is completely different from what you think. He is a man.”
I already told you on the way to here that the person I shared the wine with was the Duke of Shade. In order to conceal his identity, it was also fully explained that he always took the form of another person.
Of course, Estill didn’t answer.
“We only drank wine. The taste was so sweet, I just kept drinking it without thinking and I fell asleep drunk.”
Then Estill asked back as if arguing.
“Did you say you always pretend to be someone else to hide your identity? Then, how can Your Majesty be so sure of Duke Shade’s gender?”
I was hit hard by those words, and I was speechless for a moment.
Come to think of it, it really was.
Why did I always conclude that Duke Shade was a man?
As Esteel said, it might really be a woman.
“To be honest, I don’t even know his gender. But, no matter how so, he swears to heaven that he never did anything to cause misunderstanding, so stop being angry with him.”
After staring at me for a while, Estill finally opened her mouth.
“Okay. I’ll close my eyes as if I didn’t see anything this time.”
It was only then that the princes let out a sigh of relief.
After she finished eating, Estill quickly turned around and left.
I was devastated and Eric approached me.
Looking like he had something to say, I asked with a troubled smile.
“If there is something you want to say, try it.”
“I…… “
Behind the hesitant Eric, Huron and Edwin watched the situation with wide eyes.
“Ah, thank you…” ….”
“What do you mean?”
“That…… Woah, a bow!”
Then I run out all by myself.
“Tongue, go like hyung!”
“Brother, me too!”
Huron and Edwin bowed their heads and hurriedly followed Eric.
At first, I was a bit dumbfounded, but after a while I realized what Eric meant.
Eric was a weak guy with gifts.
Perhaps it was because of that thought, for some reason, I felt better, and a sly smile leaked out.
Come to think of it, I haven’t given anything to Huron and Edwin yet.
Sooner or later, I’ll have to give them a present as well.
Anyway, Duke Shade is still sleeping.
When I went to the office, a memo was left on the table.
But the contents seemed unusual.
– I liked it. Did His Majesty like it too?
There were also black lip marks on the corners.
It was such a memo that seemed very misleading.
Why did Duke Shade leave something like this behind?
There is no doubt that a very big misunderstanding will occur on the day Estill finds out about this.
Arch-
As soon as I had that thought, someone snatched the memo.
…… No way.
I don’t think so.
As I struggled to suppress my reluctance to look back, I found Estill holding a memo.
She closed her mouth and mercilessly crumpled her notes.
Soon after, a cold voice leaked through her lips.
“Isn’t this a cause for misunderstanding?”
For some reason, even with her smile, I could feel the flesh.
A face that is smiling but not smiling.
After Estill left her office with that expression on her face.
I was lounging on the sofa, chewing on the conversation I had with the chancellor.
Then it suddenly occurred to me that I had forgotten something most important.
What I was missing was the original protagonist.
It was ‘Elodie’.